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No, you are not entry level. You are a "career changer" and you have previous work experience and "life experience." Career changer does not mean "starting over from scratch which negates all previous work." Keep that in mind and explain it as such when someone insists you are entry level and tries to brainwash you as such. Stand your ground, girl!! Don't let these greedy power tripped up employers take away all your job experience!! All those skills are transferable!! You're not going from janitor to neuro-surgeon!!
That's been my arguement during this whole process of job hunting. How does one all of a sudden lose all skills learned along the way? Ever since I got the OK from the Dr to work again, I've been fighting that mentality the whole way. My 18 year old would be entry level-she's not had any jobs other than babysitting. But how can I not even have the experience to answer phones after all these years? Employers can be dunces.
Um, can you explain that because that sounds crazy - 4 weeks?? Did you ask the brothers from hell why? I would say, "Look, I seriously must pay my bills and cannot have my paycheck held for a month!!" Did you tell that to the VESID dope who placed you there?
The first two weeks pay is withheld until the next pay period. So on a pay every two week cycle-I have to wait til the 4th week. And yes, I talked to the VESID person and all I heard was, well keep applying to places. Lot of help they've been. If I had other issues other than an ankle-they would have placed me a lot sooner-problem is that I am way over qualified for some of the jobs they typically place people in. I told her up front that a 10hr job really wasn't going to cut it at all. But since my UI was running out that Monday-I had no choice but to take it. I can't wait to see what my actual take home pay is. I may lose my mind when I do. How is it I could make more as a school bus driver and make less doing skilled office work? I am making exactly what I made when I was 21 driving a van without a CDL with a school district-and I am now 45-how did I lose so much ground? I am at a total loss as to how I got here and considered not to have "transferable skills". Um, time management, administrative tasks, customer service, problem solving, able to adjust quickly to new situations, two way radio communications, and the list goes on. Yet I feel I've been considered as dumb as a rock for being a school bus driver all those years. Sigh.
I'll miss the job I can no longer physically pass the test for(trimaellor fracture with dislocation and waiting to get the ankle fused).I drove a school bus for a total of 15 years-since the age of 21-took a 11 year leave to stay home with my kids. Great hours- 6-9am then 1-4:30pm. Summers off(without pay-but I took the 26 week pay option). Loved ever minute of what I did-even on days when one kid would try my last nerve. My other best job was working summer for a minor league baseball team(Josh Hamilton, Evan Longoria came through on my time there).
Now, I am working for a brother team for a durable medical goods supply. The are psychos from Hades. I've been there a whopping 5 days and I am SO stressed about going in tomorrow. It's all phone work-I do medical collections for the CPAP side. Just calling insurance companies all day for 7 1/2 hours to find out why the claims have been paid. So far I've gotten in over 50K on 4 1/2 days. Not bad. But it's paying me less than what I did as a driver. I was at $18k for part time 25 hrs a week. Now I work 40hrs for 10hr. I had benefits from day one at the school district. Now I have to wait a year to pay $1000 a month to have family coverage. I told both my VESID counselor and ARC placement counselor, that to keep looking for me-this isn't a good fit at all. I can't take the verbal abuses of these two.(such as "I told you "ing "tards you "sses were down the "ing road if this "it was done right. Do people hear what I a "ing telling you? Are you too stupid to get it? Yeah-listen to that for 2 hours when he was in the office within the first 30 mins of starting there was wonderful. It's SO not worth 10hr to do this. They told me it was entry level. This is BELOW entry level. I do have a business degree-the other people I work with most are under 25-don't. I've worked in offices over the years-internships, running my spouses business etc. How I am entry level is beyond me. But my UI ran out the day I started the job. I am stuck. And I have 4 weeks til I get paid-they withhold it. So I can't even buy groceries for the next 4 weeks, pay any bills, nothing. It all stinks to high heaven. And the employer knows they can get away with treating people like this too because how hard it is to get work.
What is the pay periods that your company pays (i.e. pay schedule). Depending on your state, the pay periods, etc your employer may be out of compliance.
Or-- they may very well be within compliance according to your state's laws and whereas it may suck for you, it is normal business procedure that adheres to guidelines.
I think that humility is a characteristic of a good human being, and I fear that humility is dying or dead.
No one should feel that any job is "below" them. Hard work, any work, is character-building and something to be proud of. As long as you do your best.
Even if the work is tedious, menial, manual, icky, dirty, or involves having to have contact with "low class people."
It makes me want to should "WHO THE HECK DO YOU THINK YOU ARE???" and "WHAT MAKES YOU SO SPECIAL????"
I have a Master's and a comfortable job that I love (I'm one of those people who is passionate about my work). I have a comfy office, flexible time, a good salary, good benefits. But if I were laid off, and could not find a job in my field within a couple of months of diligent searching, I would take whatever job I could get. I'm not above any kind of honest work.
And you know what? I'd do it really well and with pride.
And I could guarantee you that if I started working the register at Walmart, within a few months I'd be a department manager. If I were working the fries at McDonald's, I'd be shift manager in about 3 weeks, and store manager in 3 months. If I were scrubbing toilets, I'd be the Assistant Director toilet scrubber in 2 weeks and Toilet Scrubbing Director in a month!
Because I'd work my ***** off, and I'd show dedication, energy, reliability, honesty, detail-orientedness, pride and ownership of my work, problem-solving ability, integrity, and resourcefulness. I'd go to bed every night exhausted but feeling good about a job well done, and grateful for it.
If you have the attitude that you're doing a job that's "beneath you," you'll have a crappy attitude and not do a good job. If that's how most of the people in those positions are, then I'm confident that I'd rise to the top pretty quickly, on my merit and hard work, not on my self-image of being "superior."
So tell the guy to take great pride in the assemby line work, go to work with a smile, be polite to everyone, whistle while he works, and offer to pitch in and do extra work. Show up early and volunteer to stay late. Before long he'll be head of the assembly line, and even move to higher positions above that.
You'd be unpromotable at my job. They specifically promote the lazy douchebags who schmooze with them. But the ones with ambition, credentials, or drive? They get passd up and dumped on. Never fails, time after time. Once the economy turns I'm certain there will be a mass quitting here.
I wasn't too far off. You were still able to enter the workforce in the 80s. Regardless, you're still out of touch with reality.
Born in 1981 here and TracySam makes some good points. Out of touch from reality? Maybe but I can sleep well at night knowing I did the morally right thing: to put in a good days of work.
Of course today's severely depressed job market means many are happy to have any job, but I worked some jobs in my younger days that many would hate. Construction laborer was hard and dirty but the money was good. Drove a taxi for a while, which wasn't too bad back then, and had more freedom. Worst job I ever had was caddy.
Low wage menial work, how can people stand it day after day after day?
Quote:
Originally Posted by HurricaneDC
It's not your life? Assuming an 8 hour work day and 8 hours of sleep a night, it's 1/3 of your life during the week. And knowing how these menial jobs pay jack ****, you either take a second job (so a 12 hour work day at least) or take more hours at work (let's say a 10 hour work day). No matter how you slice it really, it's a significant chunk of your time and life being spent doing something.
I really am surprised more people stuck in low-paying menial labor don't go off the deep end. You could cook the best fries of all the McDonalds in your area, word could spread about those fries but you probably wouldn't see a nickel of the extra profit. Or to quote Office Space, "Now if I work my ass off and Initech ships a few extra units, I don't see another dime, so where's the motivation?"
Frankly I'm surprised this doesn't happen more often
The motivation is simple. If you work and make money doing it, you are able to eat. Years ago people did menial, boring, tedious jobs without much thought. Today everyone thinks they are special and deserve high paying jobs, when many times they are just average and have an average education or no education. Without a good job, you don't live very well.
Low wage menial work, how can people stand it day after day after day?
Quote:
Originally Posted by TracySam
It's not just up to some manager whether I'd be promoted. Every McDonald's has an owner who would promote me over an under-performing manager any day. Who the heck would be threatened or even care that I have a Master's in social work???? If I worked the fry-o-lator and was not getting promoted PDQ, it would be because of my own lack of performance; I wouldn't blame being kept back by the "man" who is threatened by me.
And to the other person who quoted me, yes, I have worked in menial jobs. I was folding jeans at the Gap (back when they still folded things neatly) and I was constantly being asked to try management, but I was in school and had no interest. I worked in a deli and had to wash lettuce...that involves washing bugs and slime out of the lettuce...and I was asked by the owner to be a manager after a few weeks, but again, I was in school, and knew the food gig was temporary.
Even in my own field, I worked through the bottom ranks to get up to where I am now. When you demonstrate that you are reliable, honest, intelligent, you work your butt off and always volunteer to take on more, people promote you, again and again.
"Working hard doesn't guarantee a promotion, as there are many cases of people working hard and getting nothing out of it."
It's working hard plus showing dedication, ownership of the work, the ability to problem-solve, taking on extra, never complaining and having a great attitude that guarantees a promotion, or a new opportunity elsewhere. Sure you are going to find places where supervisors favor their friends, but someone above that supervisor will eventually see that, and all they want is someone in the position who will be the most productive for the company. I've even been given the job taken away from a person who was a "boss's buddy" when the boss's boss saw that the buddy wasn't performing much. And guess what, that boss ended up going away soon after and guess who moved in to their spot???
So much of life is dependent on your attitude. If you see things as happening TO you, then they will. If you see it as MAKING things happen, then you'll make them happen.
Having a crappy attitude and deciding that you have no control over someone keeping you down guarantees that you'll never go anywhere.
And having the attitude that certain work is "beneath" you only makes a person come off as a jerk.
My hat is off to you!!! You make more sense than most of the posters on these threads. You are the kind of person who takes pride in your work, and makes the most of it. Not everybody has the "get up and go" that you have. I suspect you could do just about any job you tackle, and would be promoted ahead of many others.
Low wage menial work, how can people stand it day after day after day? (employee, credit)
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mystique13
Promises of raises, bonuses and promotions are the carrot that's held in front of the wage slave - and this carrot keeps the slave enslaved. You can get promoted if you are family of the boss - or maybe close friend whom the boss owes a favor of some kind. If you own your own company or work as a contractor then you don't have to worry about promotions. In corporate America, for a woman to get promoted out of administrative work is extremely difficult. They will always hire an outsider with the direct experience or family first. Someone once said to me, "Marry the boss or become the longtime girlfriend of the exec FIRST. Then apply for the job in his company." "Or own the company."
You sound just a bit bitter. Attitude has a lot to do with how fast you are promoted, or not. With the comment 'wage slave' your attitude is showing. Why don't you start your own business and find out what it's all about to have employees?
Low wage menial work, how can people stand it day after day after day? (employee, credit)
Quote:
Originally Posted by TracySam
This is the kind of attitude that keeps a person in a dead-end job and keeps the person a "slave." To say "I'll never get a promotion because the man is keeping me down" is to say "why bother trying to improve my position?"
My response to the person who is in the menial job who keeps getting passed over for promotions is "well, you aren't making enough of an impression."
And the whole thing with women being kept back simply because they are women is over, except in a few isolated places. A business owner or executive (in a successful business) wants the best person in the job who will do the best for the company. If they put "favorites" in key positions who do a lousy job, it affects the performance of the organization, and they'll pay for it.
My stance is to prove that I go above and beyond to to the best job for the company.
And to say in this day & age that a woman can only succeed by sleeping with the boss or marrying the boss is patently untrue and frankly offensive.
Good post TracySam,
You are correct, but many people on this thread just arn't going to get it. They are too busy feeling sorry for themselves, and blaming anyone except themselves for their failures. No one has figured out that first and foremost education and a desire to be the best that you can be makes a huge difference. A $hitty attitude also makes a huge difference. An employer owes you only what you are worth as an employee, nothing more.
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Low wage menial work, how can people stand it day after day after day?
